The Story of Us
by 12 Days of Fangirling
Summary: James and Lily started dating one summer afternoon and made it through together all the way up to their deaths on one fateful Halloween night.. This is their story. Multichaptered fic. Read and Review!


**A/N: Here's a Jily fanfic for you guys. This fic is set in the Marauders 7****th**** year right after James and Lily just started dating. Lily doesn't know about Lupin being a werewolf in this fic.**

**Disclaimer: If I was JKR then I'd be counting me money, not writing fanfiction. I own nothing but the OCs.**

**The Story of Us**

**Chapter 1**

"Lil, are you going home for Christmas?" Alice asked as she threw her jacket onto the nearest couch in the Heads Common room which Lily and James shared and plonked down into a chair.

"Don't call me Lil" Lily said turning back to her book.

"Right because only dear darling James can call you that" Alice smirked at her and Lily face colored with embarrassment but she didn't deny it. It was true, 'Lil' was James' special name for her everyone else just called her Lily. Well except for Sirius, he refused to call her anything but Lilypad.

"So are you staying at school?" Alice repeated.

"No, James invited me to his place for the holidays with him and the rest of them" Lily said.

"And your parents are okay with you staying at… I don't know… you boyfriend's house for two weeks!" Alice demanded sitting up straight.

She had recently begun dating this 7th year boy named Frank Longbottom who seemed to have the most overprotective mother on the planet. When Frank and had first introduced Alice to his mom, she had been wearing his jacket because of the cold and Mrs. Longbottom literally yanked it off her with a grumbled excuse about the 'laundry'

"Well my parents have talked to James' parents and set some ground rules and stuff. But anyway, they say I deserve the holidays off since I've been studying so hard for the NEWTs. And Petunia staying home and she's dating this walrus of a guy, Vernon Dursley. I met him last summer and he takes up enough place for three people on the couch. No joke" Lily added.

"Uh huh, so when are you guys leaving?" Hestia added, she was Lily's other best friend, her parents were both reporters for the Quibbler and often received weird t-shirts from the office which they passed onto Hestia. She was currently wearing a pink t-shirt that said 'I FOUND A CRUMPLE HORNED SNORKACK IN RUSSIA'

"Tomorrow morning. James' parents are coming to pick the 4 of us up; Peter can't make it for some reason" Lily piped up.

"Where are they anyway?" Alice asked looking up, although the quarters were only for the Head boy and Head girl, the rest if the Marauders seemed to have set up a permanent campsite here; their room in the Gryffindor dorms, abandoned.

"I think they are down in the kitchens. They missed dinner" Hestia said picking up her bag, "I have to go, my parents are coming here early to pick me up so we can get to our family house in Costa Rica before the holiday rush" and on that note, she hugged both the girls and told Lily to do something particularly inappropriate to James in the holidays and then rushed out of the room.

"Well I should get going, Frank and I have a date in Hogsmeade in an hour and I have to find something to wear. I'll see you tomorrow!" Alice said getting up and leaving the room.

The common room was silent once again and Lily turned back to her book, she was reading _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_, it was one of her favorites and a couple months ago on their 3-month anniversary James had bought her a first edition copy. It must have cost him a fortune but he said it was worth on seeing the look on her face.

It was already late but she couldn't stop reading, so she read till midnight before she couldn't keep her eyes open and longer and fell asleep on the couch.

The next morning Lily jerked awake to loud scream of, "LILYPAD WAKEY! THE POTTERS WILL BE HERE ANY MINUTE" she woke up seeing an excited Sirius jumped on the couch where her feet were.

"Padfoot leave her alone, she's got some time" Lily heard Remus' voice come from James' room.

"What time is it?" she asked groggily raking her fingers through her red hair trying to tame it.

"8am! Mum and Dad will be here in an hour" Sirius said still jumping up and down. Lily knew that when he said Mum and Dad he was referring to Dorthea and Nicholas Potter.

"WAKE UP LILYPAD!" Sirius yelled again yanking off the blanket that somebody had covered her with last night.

"Okay okay, I'm getting up" she said slipping off the couch and into her room where she promptly jumped on the bed and tried to fall asleep.

"NO! STAY AWAKE!" Sirius was by her side in a second. "PRONGS! GET OVER HER, YOUR RED HEADED GIRLFRIEND REFUSES TO WAKE UP"

Groaning, Lily pulled the cover over her head hoping the cotton fibers would block out Sirius' ultrasound screaming.

"Pads leave her alone, she's already packed, it'll take her 5 minutes to change" James' voice came as he entered the room. Sirius chose to ignore him and yanked the blanket off Lily again.

Keeping her eyes adamantly shut Lily refused to let Sirius win. There was suddenly a loud cry of, "AGUAMENTI!" and suddenly she felt a huge gush of water hit her in the stomach and soaking her shirt completely. Thank god she was wearing black. "I'm g-g-going to k-k-kill you" Lily shivered and the cold water seeped into the cloth.

"Pads come on!" James said muttering a quick drying charm on Lily and she sat up rubbing her arms. James came out of their bathroom carrying his toothbrush and other supplies. He was already ready, his messy hair sticking out.

"Morning" he said warmly when he saw her, he bent down and kissed her on the cheek before dragging Sirius out the room by his hair leaving Lily alone. Alice had already picked out something for Lily to wear, a skirt and a slightly shorter than preferable shirt which Lily promptly threw back in the closet. Picking out a pair of jeans and a blue full sleeved shirt, Lily threw them on before grabbing her trunk and dragging it out of the room.

None of the boys were ready except for Remus who had picked up Lily's discarded book and was reading it.

"Where are they?" Lily said annoyed. They had the nerve to force her to get up and they weren't even ready. If there was one thing Lily was picky about, it was her sleep. She curled up on the couch and prepared to go back to sleep.

As if on cue, Sirius and James emerged from James' room prim and proper. Seeing her on the couch Sirius yelled in her ear causing her to scream in shock and punch him in the face. Glaring at her Sirius pushed her towards James roughly who caught her easily. Sirius muttered something that sounded a lot like, "You could've let her fall but no, you love the stupid girl"

He then ran to the bathroom to check if Lily's punch had done had lasting damage. James laughed and kissed the top of Lily's head before followed Sirius so he could drag him out.

"They'll be here in half an hour; we have to wait for them near the main gate"  
Shrinking her trunk to the size of a pushpin, Lily placed it in her pocket while the others boys did the same.

Making sure she had everything, Lily double checked her room before proclaiming herself ready. They made their way down with Alice waiting at the foot of the stairs with Frank.

"Lily!" she squealed before throwing her arms around the redhead. Lily hugged her back and they exchanged addresses for the holidays before she had to leave.

"Use protection!" Alice called after her and Lily's face turned bright red, matching the color of her hair. Sirius nudged Lily's shoulder with a knowing look and she glared at him.

They made their way to the gate where the Potters were supposed to meet them. James slid his fingers through hers and she smiled, the weather around them was cold but despite that his fingers were warm and comforting.

In the distance Lily could make out two figures walking towards them. "THEY'RE HERE!" Sirius voice yelled and broke into a run. Laughing James chased him however Lily and Remus chose to walk towards them like sane people, at least more sane than James and Sirius.

"Lily darling, it is so nice to see you. Has James been treating you well?" Dorthea Potter said giving her son a mock glare as she hugged Lily. Lily had always loved James' parents, they were the nicest people she knew and treated her like their own daughter.

"Nice to see you to Mrs. Potter" Lily said politely as she hugged James' mother.

"Oh please you make me feel so old, call me Dorthea"

They all exchanged a fair amount of hugs 75% of which were from James mother to him and Sirius. She peppered them with kisses and they stood their embarrassed beyond words.

"Mum… mum stop" James whined.

"Sorry darling, okay let's go now" his mother apologized not looking sorry at all.

"You can all Apparate right? We have to get out of the reach of the Hogwarts wards and then we can" James' father said.

They walk in a small group with James, Sirius, Remus and Mr. Potter discussing Quidditch tactics. Lily and James in the middle with their finger intertwined as Lily and Mrs. Potter discussed about the latest happenings at the Ministry of Magic.

They all apparated back to the Potter Manor. Lily had to use Side-Along Apparation because she was actually quite terrible at it.

She stopped in front of the house, letting go of James' hand. Lily bent her neck back trying to see to the top of the Manor which loomed over them dangerously. They made their way into the house and Dorthea began listing off instructions on sleeping areas.

"Okay Sirius and James you both take your usual rooms, Remus there is a third room on the same corridor, that'll be yours and Lily darling yours is on the floor below theirs"

"Why is she below us? There is an extra room on our floor, right?" Sirius questioned oblivious to the obvious answer.

"Well her mother called and I quote, 'under no circumstances shall Lily's bedroom be close to her boyfriends-I don't what the rules are in the wizard world but my daughter shall not be shacking up with James' and I'm not the kind of person who disobeys Jane Evans" Mrs. Potter said laughing and this time it was James who went red. Lily laughed at her mother's comment, which was a typical Jane Evans reaction.

"So what will you kids be doing today?" Mr. Potter asked running his hands through his hair. James was a spitting image of his father, with his messy black hair, hazel eyes and terrible eyesight.

"We're not sure yet, we'll see" James said shrugging before taking off for his room, Sirius and Remus followed.

Dorthea called Chinky, a house elf, who showed Lily to her room. The room overlooked the swimming pool of the Potter Manor where the blue water sparkled in the light, looking tempting as ever. She was so thankful to Alice for packing her two piece.

Lily turned away and began unpacking her clothes and placed them in the closet. There was a knock on the door and Lily turned around to see James leaning against the door frame.

"James!" she squealed, in a very non-Lily manner, throwing her arms around him, they hadn't been alone in a long time with Sirius practically glued to James' side. He picked her up and held her tightly wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Your house is amazing" Lily gushed her arms still around his neck, feet back on the ground. Smiling he bent down to press his lips to hers. Warmth spread through Lily as she responded enthusiastically.

They were forced to break apart when a loud yell interrupted them, "PRONGS! LILYPAD! LET'S GO PLAY QUIDDITCH THE WEATHER IS- WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME ARE YOU DOING? GET OFF EACH OTHER! LET'S GO!" Lily pressed her face into James' shoulder breathing in his minty scent hoping it would calm her down because she was so close to choking the life out of Sirius.

James seemed equally annoyed, "Pads, we were kind of in the middle of something"

"NOT ANYMORE!" Sirius yelled grabbed Lily's hand and dragging her after him, shaking his head, James followed.

The next couple of days were an absolute blast. Lily had so much fun. She played Quidditch with the boys- or rather kept score. She went swimming with them; they played Gobstones and Exploding Snap. And Mr. Potter had gotten her and James tickets to Phyllis Bendorngen's lecture of Illegal Use of Magical Artifacts next week. James had made it very clear he didn't want to go but Lily wouldn't take no for an answer. And as excited as that lecture was, there was something way more iconic headed her way.

Her and James' six-month anniversary was in 2 days and she couldn't wait to see what he had planned. Lily had always been a sucker for romantic gestures and luckily James was too. He had remained quite secretive about his plans for their anniversary yet somehow it seemed like everyone in the entire house knew what the plan was except her; even Chinky had come along jumping up and down at the prospect of being asked by James for assistance.

That night, Lily decided to wear a dress for her special date, something she never did. She spent an entire hour fixing her hair and make-up getting it just right. Usually the fancy clothes and pretty hair was more of Hestia thing while Lily was more of a jeans and first-tshirt-that-I-see kind of girl.

So naturally, Lily had only brought one dress to the Potter Manor that Alice had packed for her on the off chance that she might need it, which turns out she did. Lily used up 3 entire bottles of Sleakezy's Hair Potion, to make her hair work and the hour of hard work finally resulted in perfectly waxy hair that mid-back. Luckily the dress was green bringing out her eyes making eye make-up unnecessary. After she had poked herself in the eye with an eyeliner pencil two years ago, Lily had basically sworn off eye makeup.

Mentally thanking Alice for the dress, Lily finally pronounced herself ready after 2 hours of prep time.

Walking out of the bathroom she gasped in shock at what she saw. Her entire bedroom was lit by candles (Chinky's work no doubt). The candles covered the window sill and a couple of them floated over her head. And on her bed was a single rose and note.

_Meet me on the third floor, 4th room from the left_

_Love,_

_J_

Lily took off for the third floor,

While Lily waited anxiously for the perfect date, James had a whole other problem headed his way. He had completely forgotten about it. Perfect boyfriend? Doubt it.

In the back of his mind he knew there was something important for him today but he was too distracted to care. The three boys were huddled in a circle in James' room going over the plan again and again. Tonight was riskier than usual due to lack of their timid friend.

"The forest begins near the backyard of the Potter Manor once we get deep enough and away from the wards we make a run for it. Once we're sure we're far enough we'll wait there and Moony can change" Sirius explained. They had to go over it a couple times making a few changes and improvisations due to the lack of the 4th Marauder who was away taking care of his mother.

The giant clock that stood in the Potter Manor's main hall struck 9 and the 3 of them decided to take off.

They slipped out the back door and tiptoed across the yard careful not to wake of the nest of pixies that lived near the hedge. James and Sirius had attempted to tame them once in 4th year, one pixie scratched Sirius so hard they had to take him to St. Mungo's to get it healed.

They made their way through the yard in absolute darkness, they couldn't light their wands, it might give them away but the moment they were in the forest 3 wand tips lit up with a quick chant of, "Lumos" and they immediately felt safer, well as safe as you can feel with a friend about to turn into a werewolf any second.

They walked for an hour, into the forest. The bushes got thicker and the trees got taller and bushier obscuring their view of the moon. Thorns scratched their feet and droplets of blood rolled down their legs. It was almost 10 by the time they decided they were far enough from the Manor for Remus' ghostly howls to be unheard.

After another half hour, Remus stopped, "Can't wait any longer" he said in a low voice before dropping on all four.

In the faraway distance a clock gonged marking the 10 o clock strike. With an almighty yell, Remus slowly began to change.

Lily walked to the instructed room on the third floor. The room had been beautifully set. The ceiling seemed to open up into the night sky the stars studding the ceiling like diamonds.

In the middle there was a table set for two covered with a white satin cloth that gathered around the legs of a table like ball gown on the floor.

There were floating candles all around the setting that moved out of the way to make room for her. In the middle there was a vase of white lilies each charmed to live forever that seemed to have unearthly glow to them.

And despite everything being perfect, James wasn't there yet. Lily figured he would be waiting to jump out at her except he didn't come. There wasn't a single other soul in the room. Telling herself he was just late Lily sat down waiting patiently, she studied the lilies carefully and tried to entertain herself with what little she had there. After what seemed to be hours Lily heard the clock strike twelve, but James still wasn't here.

Feeling her heart break slightly Lily walked back downstairs, her eyes drooping. She sat on her bed, her heels still on and fell asleep the thoughts of a messy haired boy circling her dreams.

She jerked awake only an hour later by the sound of rushed whispers from outside her room.

"Prongs that was amazing! Especially that last lunge!" she heard Sirius say excitedly.

"Thanks! Remus you okay, mate? Let's get you to lie down"

"Nah its okay, this time it wasn't so bad. You guys, I can't thank you enough…"

"Yeah yeah, shut up. We've gone over this, you're our best mate" Padfoot whispered back.

Hurt flashed through Lily along with a wave of anger, he chose his friends. On their six month anniversary he chose to go out with his friends.

Slipping out of bed Lily stepped out of her room to see the 3 boys sitting in front of the fireplace laughing about something. Looking at the clock, she read the time 1 am. Forcing her anger down, Lily stepped out, making her silhouette visible with the light of the moon.

"James?" she said softly, keeping her voice as even as possible, but the silence made it easy for them to hear.

Three heads swiveled around simultaneously, "Lil" he said warmly, "did we wake you? Wow, what are you wearing? You look amaz-"

It was only then Lily realized that she was still wearing her dress. "Where were you last night?" she demanded keeping her voice as calm as she could.

"I was out with Padfoot and Remus, we went to Hogsmeade to get something" he lied smoothly.

"Hogsmeade?" Lily asked disbelievingly. "You blew you off for Hogsmeade?" her eyes were narrow and cold.

"Blew you off?" James asked the confusion evident on his face. His eyebrows furrowed. "Did we have plans or something?"

Lily didn't even have a reply for that. Hurt shone on her face. "You forgot" her voice breaking. Biting her lip hard Lily tried to hold the tears back. She wouldn't cry now, she wouldn't!

"Forgot what?" James seemed genuinely confused right now.

Lily took a deep breath blinked away her tears and swallowed the lump in her throat, "You have got to be kidding me. Our anniversary James"

James froze when he heard those words any excuse that he was about to cook up was lost. _Our anniversary James._

He had forgotten… he forgot their anniversary. He wanted to kick himself. Before he could do or say anything Lily had turned around and was walking back to her room.

"Lily! Wait!" Remus called from behind him, "It's not his fault, its-"

"Remus, I don't want to hear it. Just please leave" she said waiting near her door.

"Lil please…" James said, "Let me explain. Please"

Turning to Sirius and Remus Lily said, "Can you guys give us some privacy?"

"Sure but you know what you aren't supposed to be alone with-" Sirius stopped mid-sentence, the look on Lily's face clearly said that she would physically disable him if he didn't leave. The two of them took off sympathetic looks on both their faces.

James took two steps towards Lily and was about to say something before he cut him off, "You didn't go to Hogsmeade, did you?"

"What? Yes I did" James said quickly.

"No you didn't, you're biting your lip, you do that when you're lying" Lily said her eyes narrow. James stopped biting his lip and scratched the back of his neck.

"Where were you?" she repeated.

It killed him to say what he said next, "I can't tell you"

"You can't tell me" she repeated her voice as even as she could manage. "You miss our date. You forget our anniversary. You blew me off to be with your friends. You lie about where you've been, and you don't think I deserve an answer.

James had a pained expression on his face, "Lil, I sorry I just can't, I'm not supposed to"

"Your feet are muddy, you're bleeding in three different places and sleeve is torn. James what are you hiding?"

"Lily" he rarely called her anything but 'Lil', "this is really important and I need you to trust me. I can't tell you what but please trust me"

"Trust you? TRUST YOU?" Lily yelled, taking a deep breath she forced her voice down, "Sometimes we have to make choices in this world. And tonight you had to make the choice between me or them. And I always pick you, just like I did tonight. Except the sad part was… you stopped picking me"

And with that she turned around and slammed the door in his face. Staring at the mahogany door James leaned back against the wall and slid to the ground his face in his palm, reality of what just happened crashing over him.

Lily sat on her bed staring out the window, there was a clap of thunder and the slight drizzle from before had turned into a full on rainstorm.

Lily wasn't an unreasonable person, she wasn't the type to get mad over small things. Except this wasn't the first time James had chosen them.

Last month, she and James had plans to go to Hogsmeade at night (being Head Boy and Girl had its perks) and he hadn't showed up. Late at night in the common room he had showed up muddied and bloodied with torn clothes and explanation except that he had been with Sirius, Remus and Peter.

The same thing had happened in the 2nd month of their dating and they were supposed to go meet Lily's parents and he never showed and only provided the same excuse that he was with Sirius and Remus doing something important.

So tonight was the last straw for Lily. Laying back down on the bed she fought back tears. She stared at the ceiling for who knows how long before there was knock on her window. Looking up warily, she whispered 'Lumos' and held the wand towards the window.

It was James, he was on his broomstick knocking repeatedly on the window. The rain was pouring and he was completely soaked. His shirt clung to his chest and his hair was flattened completely, droplets of waters covering his face.

"Oh Merlin" Lily whispered before swinging of the bed. She opened the window and stepped aside to let James in.

He shivered and stepped in. "I'm s-s-s-sorry" he said violently shaking and Lily wanted nothing more than to put a drying spell on him, hug me, make him cocoa and cuddle with him but she stayed put, forcing a look of what she hoped was anger.

Reaching into his jacket pocket he pulled out a small folded note. Lily looked at him oddly before carefully peelings the folds apart. On the paper were three simple words scrawled in James' handwriting.

_I pick you_

**A/N: Ta-da! So how was that? I'm thinking of making this a multi-chaptered fic tell me if you think I should continue or not. Review please! No flames.**

**-A**


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